


I'm Just a Kid

by Badgermole



Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Anxiety Attacks, Face blindness, Gen, Parallel Universes, Powerless, Shapeshifting, powers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-07
Packaged: 2019-07-06 13:08:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,596
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15886677
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Badgermole/pseuds/Badgermole
Summary: A homeless teenage Virgil gets approached by a strange man one day. It turns out he's not as alone as he had once thought.





	1. Chapter 1

Virgil flinched.

Oh God, why did he flinch?

Now it was going to be worse. If he had just stayed still, it would’ve been fine. But no, he flinched. His eyes squeezed shut, not that it would matter much.

It would come. It always came. So Virgil stayed as still as a statue, frozen in his half curled flinching position. His heart thudded against his ribs blocking out the sounds around him. His lungs burned as the air from his held breath was desperate to be released.

Calm down, he thought to himself. It wouldn’t do much but he knew it would help somewhat. He quietly tried letting out the held breath, feeling his body start to shake. His empty stomach knotted itself. Virgil had only been able to get enough food to make it through the day without passing out. He wasn’t ready to waste his energy on a panic attack.

Calm, he repeated as he struggled to take some normal breathes. He wasn’t sure how long he had been frozen there shakily breathing curled against the wall, but it was surely too long without anything happening. What was going on? It should have happened by now. It always happened by now.

The panicking boy slowly opened one of his eyes, his heart speeding up once again. He couldn’t quite focus, but he could see a blurry shape of the man kneeling in front of him. He was still there.

Virgil quickly shut his eye and prayed that the man didn’t notice that he had peeked out at him. Perhaps this time can be different and he’ll just leave, a small weak optimistic voice spoke in his head. But that had never happened before so who was he to believe that it would happen now? If the man was still there, it was going to happen. So Virgil stayed in his position ignoring his screaming sore muscles. He would have to just wait it out like he normally did.

Time continued to pass. The dreadful anticipation filled Virgil’s chest, his heart beating horribly fast and his breaths faltering again. God, why couldn’t he just get it over with already! He was half tempted to grab hold of the man himself, but he knew deep down he couldn’t do it. So he would have to wait.

Virgil once again slowly opened his one eye to get a quick glance at the situation. The man was still kneeling in front of him, but had moved back a bit. As if he was giving Virgil space to calm himself down. Although everything was still blurry, he could see the man’s face morph into a smile. The cowering boy’s brain yelled at him to hide again and stop staring. His body though was frozen watching the man before him.

The man’s mouth began to move. He heart was still beating far too quickly and loudly for him to focus on what was being said at him. Why couldn’t he just get it over with already!

The man stopped, either registering that Virgil wasn’t paying attention or he had asked a question. He moved his hand into a fist and made a circular motion on his chest. ‘Sorry.’

Virgil blinked, both eyes open now.

The man’s smile returned to his face. After a bit of a thoughtful pause, the man signed ‘Nice to meet you.’

Virgil was entirely confused now. This wasn’t how this worked. You don’t have someone flip out on the street then sit in front of him waiting for them to calm down. Someone randomly freaks out, falling in to the sidewalk, and you reach out to make sure they’re okay.

Calm the freak down, Virgil silently berated himself again.

The man was staring. Waiting for a reply, Virgil realized. What was he supposed to say? He was far too shaky to sign anything and he doubted he could say anything even if he knew what to say. Virgil gave a long blink, hopefully that would appease the man and he could be left alone. The man smiled at Virgil’s small sign of recognition.

“I’m sorry I startled you,” the man both signed and spoke.

It sounded like he was underwater but at least his heart seemed to be pounding less in his chest. Virgil shakily moved his hand so his thumb was pointing up. He couldn’t quite get his other fingers to curl into his palm but the man seemed to understand.

The stranger gave a slightly sad smile and scooted a bit closer to Virgil, getting out of the middle of the sidewalk. The town wasn’t busy and Virgil was surprised to see that there wasn’t a crowd around them.

“Lo told me you didn’t like touch…” The man whispered to himself shaking his head guiltily. But Virgil heard it and coiled tighter into the wall of the building. Who were these people and how did they know him?

Hearing Virgil retreat away from him, the man instinctively reached out to tell him to stop and not leave. But once again that was the wrong thing to do. Virgil dove sideways away from the outstretched arm. He shakily got up on his jelly legs and tried to move away from the strange man.

“Virgil, please wait!” The man called from behind him. Virgil could hear the man get to his feet and started slowly walking after the stumbling kid.

How much did this guy know about him? He continued pushing himself down the sidewalk using the store’s walls as support. He wasn’t moving fast and Virgil knew the man could easily catch up, but he had to go to get out of here.

Virgil rounded the corner not sure of where he planned on going anymore. He cut the turn too close and another man appeared in front of him. Virgil instinctively jumped across toward the curb out of the man’s path. Whether he misjudged his jump or was shaking too badly, he didn’t know but he ended up twisting his ankle as he fell half on the sidewalk half into the street. The man from the corner slowly walked over to the dazed and trembling teen. The same dark hair and glasses from before stared back at him. How had he gotten around him without him noticing?

“Lo, I told you I could handle it!” A familiar voice called from back down the street.

The original dark haired and glasses man stood next to the one from around the corner both looking down at the out of it Virgil. He lazily realized Lo, the corner man, was wearing a dark blue tie while the original man stood with a baby blue polo and grey cardigan around his shoulders. Ah, they were different people.

The one called Lo furrowed his eyebrows seemingly confused by the whole situation. “My apologizes, Patton,” he finally said but still looked very perplexed.

Patton, the one with the cardigan, gently placed a hand on the other’s shoulder and tilted his head slightly. “Logan, do you have to go?”

Logan gave a quiet hum of acknowledgement but didn’t move from his spot. Patton moved his hands and helped settle Logan into a sitting position on the curb next to the splayed out Virgil.

Once Logan was comfortably situated, Patton turned his attention back to the younger boy.

“I know you don’t do touch, kiddo, but you can’t be laying like that okay?” Patton crouched down next to Virgil but didn’t move to touch him yet.

Virgil was exhausted. He’s eyes wandered around looking at the clouds for a bit before falling on Patton’s concerned face. He had asked another question. He would prefer not to get run over by a car, he decided and raised his hand in another failed attempt at a thumbs up.

Patton gave a small smile, glancing at the also out of it Logan before slowly and gently helping Virgil into a sitting position. The kid might have been wearing a huge sweatshirt, but Patton could feel the nothingness that hid underneath.

Virgil let out a few uncomfortable sounds and tried to struggle away from the touch but calmed once he was leaning against the telephone pole. He was breathing heavily and couldn’t seem to keep his eyes open.

Poor kid, Patton thought. “I’m going to get you in the car okay? And then we’ll get some food into you.”

It took some time for Virgil to find Patton’s face again, but he gave a long blink in response. He just needed to sleep, and maybe, just maybe, he’d wake up and this would just be a bad dream.


	2. Chapter 2

Virgil groaned and curled farther into himself. He felt horrible. Everything was sore and stiff and he felt utterly exhausted. Reflecting back on yesterday, he couldn’t remember anything particularly eventful…

He had woken up earlier than normal and wandered the streets aimlessly for a while before his feet had lead him to the bakery. Although Virgil had never met the baker, there was always a little muffin or pastry resting on one of the outside tables for him. At first he hadn’t known it was for him but soon he started noticing a new one there every day replacing the old stale untouched one from the previous day. And finally a note showed up, tucked under the small plate. Virgil was curious and no one was around so he snuck a glance at the note. _‘Kid wandering around every morning: please enjoy a pastry. Feel free to come in anytime. You can hang out in the warmth or ask for anything and it’ll be on the house. –The Baker <3’_

Virgil could never bring himself to enter the shop, paranoid about becoming close to someone and the fact that he had no money and could bring himself to ask for food. Sure he was still technically taking food he should pay for, but it was being offered to him and he knew it was going to go bad otherwise. This morning there had been only the second note the Baker had written him, right next to a wonderful raspberry tart.

The note.

_‘Remember you’re welcome in anytime, kiddo! I’ve got something new I’m testing out and would love to hear your thoughts on it <3’_

He suddenly felt as if everyone was looking at him, things stalking him from the morning shadows. Virgil of course had freaked out, leaving the beautiful tart and bolted away. He had bumped into a man and ended up freaking out on the sidewalk.

Oh God, the two men Patton and Logan. Nope, nope, nope. He was probably kidnapped now and no one was every going to find his body. His eyes snapped open and were greeted by an overwhelming amount of light. He squinted to try to make out his surroundings but it hurt his eyes too much and he closed them tight enough to cause flashes.

Maybe he was already dead. He doubted he would get into heaven and it seemed too bright for hell so maybe his spirit was trapped in some limbo. He could live with that. Alone in an overwhelming light for all eternity.

There was the sound of movement near him and he bolted upright, ignoring the whine from his body and looked around trying to disconcert anything from the bright blob around him. The movement stopped and the room fell quiet. Virgil could feel that someone else was nearby but he couldn’t make anything out. His fists weakly clenched and unclenched ready to defend himself from his probable captors.

“No need for that kiddo, I promise.” Patton’s voice emerged from the light somewhere ahead of him.

They probably drugged him in the food they had promised. How could he have been so stupid? Rookie mistake. Virgil squinted trying to make out the older man. The light blue blob finally appeared in his vision, slowly moving toward him. He plopped down into a chair and Virgil finally realized he was on a couch wrapped in a blanket. I suppose it’s a good sign that I’m not chained up in the basement, he thought to himself running his shaking hands over the fluffy blanket.

“I’m sorry about earlier. It wasn’t exactly how that was planned to go.” Patton started watching Virgil’s shoulders rise as his body tensed. “No, kiddo. Not like that. I’ll just start over, okay?”

Virgil nodded slowly and blinked his eyes a few time trying to clear his vision. Maybe he had hit his head when he had fallen? As Patton began, Virgil causally ran his hand over the back of his head looking for any big bumps.

“My name’s Patton! I run a bakery in town.” Virgil’s hand stilled at the back of his head. “I’ve noticed you around in the mornings and I thought you’d need a proper breakfast being up so early.”

“You started leaving me the food.” Virgil whispered more to himself than to Patton.

“Yup! I didn’t mean to spook you this morning with the invite.” Patton dropped his head a bit guilt bleeding into this words. “My friend Logan, from before, he…uh”

Patton paused trying to figure out how to explain everything. Virgil could faintly see him fiddling with the sleeves of the cardigan around his shoulders.

“Logan’s work involves knowing a lot.” Patton decided on. “I asked him to find out a bit about you. If you were in trouble or anything, I wanted to be able to help. More than just giving you a tasty breakfast.”

Virgil rubbed his eyes. He was trying to pay attention to the man, but he just couldn’t see right. If it didn’t fix itself soon, he was sure he was going to have a panic attack.

“You okay kiddo?” Patton watched as Virgil pressed his palms into his eyes rubbing them with probably more force than necessary.

What was Virgil supposed to say, that his eyes weren’t working? He couldn’t go to a doctor and he had just been sort of kidnapped by the friendly town baker.

“Just something in my eye…” Virgil replied lamely.

The Patton blob nodded but as he spoke, Virgil could hear the doubt in his voice. “I didn’t want to startle you, but I couldn’t stand for you to be out on the streets all alone. It’s just not a life people should have to live.” Patton paused with a light chuckle. “And I have a tendency to overwhelm new folks with my enthusiasm and love.”

“How did you know about…” Virgil paused trying to collect his thoughts and trying to make out more of the shape before him, “about the touching...?”

“I’ve seen you in the crowds before.” Patton said simply and Virgil struggled to watch as Patton disappeared from his vision. He tracked the sound of footsteps. A draw opened and closed. The footsteps came back toward him and Patton returned to the chair across from him. “Here, I can see you squinting.”

Patton carefully put a black blob onto the coffee table between them. Virgil didn’t move, trying to decipher what was before him. “They’re glasses kiddo. I don’t know your prescription but I think they’ll help at least a little,” Patton noted at Virgil’s hesitation.

Virgil let out a small chuckle. He didn’t need glasses. His face blindness wasn’t like actual blindness. Realization started to dawn on Virgil. But Patton wore glasses. Virgil had to have gotten into Patton’s home somehow…

Virgil hesitantly reached down and took the glasses off the table, fumbling slightly as he put them on his face. This time Patton let out a light laugh as Virgil looked around suddenly able to see clearly and properly. The room was rather open and spacious. There were some photos of Patton, Logan, and another man together on the TV stand nearby. Books about dragons, puppies, and physics laid in a stack beside the TV. It was cozy and bright, much like how Virgil thought the inside of the bakery would be.

“I guess we’ve got similar eyes.” Patton smiled at the awe on Virgil’s face. “You could’ve said something kiddo.”

After a minute or so of silence as Virgil got adjusted to seeing the world again, Virgil up at Patton. “Honestly, what’s going on?”

“I’m going to ask you something personal, okay?” Patton said in a caring yet hesitant tone. Virgil nodded slowly, just because he asked didn’t mean he had to answer. “Your touching thing, it’s got a reason right…a _special r_ eason.”

Virgil clenched his jaw and narrowed his eyes, this time not because he couldn’t see but because he was suspicious of what was going on. How could Patton know?

“Oh kiddo,” Patton whispered slightly sad. “It’s a power, yeah? You’ve got a special power that works through touching things.”

Virgil didn’t say anything he just stared at the other man.

Patton let a sad smile fall on his face. “I’m…well I’m not like you but Logan is. Well not exactly like you…Well I mean he’s got a power too. And our friend Roman, he has his own too.”

Virgil didn’t believe it. He was alone in his messed up world. Virgil stood, he wanted to leave. He wanted to wake back up on the curb exhausted and cold but in a familiar place in a world he knew. He was alone.

“Kiddo! Please sit. You’re still very weak, we can’t have you getting sick.” Patton shushed slightly he stood and moved as though to gently lead Virgil back into the seat but pulled back his hands.

“Lo’s not really here right now and Roman’s working, but I promise, pinky promise, that you’re not alone anymore okay?” Patton searched Virgil’s face for anything but the younger boy had only a blank expression. His eyes betrayed his cold calm demeanor. There was a great fiery turmoil going on within the other’s head.

Without warning Virgil’s eyes snapped shut and he dropped to the floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For anyone interested the title comes from the Simple Plan song, "I'm Just a Kid." I was sort of vaguely inspired by this Captain Marvel (Shazam) music video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWOmvZqP5JM

Patton watched as Virgil fell in seemingly slow motion. He rose his arms and took a step forward ready to catch the dark strange kid. For a moment, time seemed to pause as he realized that catching the boy would mean touching him. He had seen the discomfort on Virgil’s unconscious face moving him to the curb, then again moving into the car, and yet again to get him into his home. He really wished Logan was here.

Patton gently caught Virgil’s limp body and guided him back into the couch, trying to minimize his touching. Virgil’s face still scrunched up but relaxed once Patton removed him from his arms. Careful to avoid Virgil’s face, Patton removed the glasses and folded them on the table.

He let out a sigh and flopped back down into his own chair. He had really messed this up. Patton could tell Virgil was a skittish kid and living all alone on the streets certainly didn’t help. Even with his innate skill of befriending anyone, he had really spooked the poor kid. Patton had unintentionally moved too fast and over stepped some boundaries. He should have gone slower, build more of a friendship with him before dropping a ‘you have superpowers and so do my friends.’

Patton half wished Logan would have done it. Sure Logan’s social skills weren’t that great and he could be horribly blunt sometimes, but Logan was the one who figured out about Virgil. Patton had no experience breaking the news that a) you had superpowers and b) there are other people like you.

Patton rubbed his face and moved to the kitchen. He emptied out the oven of the various pots and pans onto the counter. Preheating the oven, he began to quietly hum a song he wasn’t quite sure he actually knew.

Baking calmed him down. He could collect his thoughts and maybe Virgil would give him a third try. He could offer the baked goods as a peace offering and the teen definitely needed some more food in him. Mindlessly humming, he tried to think back to the few times he caught Virgil through the window. The paranoid kid looked around before grabbing the warm chocolate chip muffin and inhaling it deeply. An uncharacteristic smile spread across his face as he took a small bite.

Patton returned from his memory and decided that he would make some chocolate chip muffins for his guest.

 

Virgil woke up screaming. He blindly scrambled backwards, wedging himself deeper into the couch. Away, he had to get away. It was too hot. He ripped away the blanket and struggled with fumbling fingers on his hoodie’s zipper. He couldn’t breathe. He felt something coil around his chest, slowly crushing down on his ribs.

A loud roar rang in his ears as he tried to push himself through the couch. Away.

It was too hot, too loud, too close. He could finally hear movement toward him over the roar in his eyes and he blindly failed is arms about. _It_ was here, he could feel it still. He opened his eyes slightly trying to do a quick sweep of the room. Across from him rested a light blue blob. That wasn’t the monster.

Patton was kneeling in front of the couch quietly trying to shush Virgil. He wanted so badly to wrap the trembling boy in his arms until the calmed but he couldn’t. It seemed that Virgil was starting to register where he was. Without taking his eyes off of Virgil, Patton reached behind him and pulled the glasses out in front of him. Moving slowly and entirely in Virgil’s view, he placed them gently on the arm of the couch.

Virgil had closed his eyes when he noticed Patton’s arm coming near him, but the contact he was expecting never came. He hesitantly opened his eyes and Patton motioned to the blob that were his glasses beside him.

Still reeling from the dream…or maybe memory, Virgil’s uncoordinated hands knocked the pair onto the floor. He couldn’t hear a crack, so hopefully the pair was okay. Patton reached down and dropped them carefully next to Virgil’s curled form again.

Virgil let out a shaky huff and grabbed the spectacles again. After stabbing his ear a few times, he was able to sit the glasses on his face.

“You okay kiddo?” Patton asked rising slightly while still kneeling to get a better looking at the boy.

Virgil forced out a laugh. Oh yes he was perfectly fine. How could he not be?

Patton smiled slightly knowing it was a dumb question. “I think you should eat, when you feel up to it. You’ve already passed out twice on me today and that was two too many.”

He rose from his spot revealing a warm plate stacked with chocolate chip muffins resting on the coffee table. A small glass of milk and one of water sat next to the muffins.

Patton made his way back into the kitchen to clean up and give the kid some space to calm down. He had so many questions and wanted to help so badly.

A loud thump erupted from the upstairs, both Patton and Virgil jumping at the sudden noise. No one else should be home. Patton put down the dish he had been drying and made his way toward the stairs. He didn’t want to alarm the already frazzled boy so he tried to make it look as natural as he could. Patton moved up the stairs, trying to keep a normal paces while creating as little amount of sound as possible.

Reaching the second floor, he strained his ears listening for another sound from the intruder. Nothing. Suddenly, Roman’s door swung open. Inside was a dumbfounded Logan, his glasses askew and tie done loosely around his neck.

“You couldn’t come through the front door Lo?” Patton chuckled as Logan inhaled deeply and adjusted his glasses. Logan’s eyes briefly flashed down to the dark blue colored bracelet on his right wrist.

“My apologizes.” Logan said simply and started down the hallway toward the stairs.

 “Wait, Virgil’s down there and I don’t think he’s in the mood to talk right now.” Patton rushed and grabbed Logan’s wrist.

Logan closed his eyes for a few seconds before looking back at Patton. “Ah yes. Virgil, from earlier in town.”

“He… uh… he didn’t seem to take it well when I said there were other folks like him. He’s been on edge the whole time. I just don’t know how to help him.”

“We shall both talk to him then.” Logan declared after some silence.

The pair started down the stairs. “Do you think you could uh demonstrate for him?”

Logan’s stride stuttered for a second. “Perhaps we should just wait until Roman comes home. He is both an insufferable showboat and has some more active obvious elements than I.”

Patton nodded and turned his gaze toward the couch. The spot Virgil had been cowering in was empty.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may say, "We're four chapters in. Where's Roman?" Don't worry, he's coming...maybe next chapter. Someone has to make money.

“Oh sugar plum fairies.” Patton whispered and rushed down the rest of the stairs.

Patton’s eyes darted around the empty room looking for the dark emo to no avail. Virgil was definitely too weak to have gone very far. With the living room thoroughly searched, Patton headed for the front door grabbing his coat off the rack.

Patton turned back to see where Logan was. The other bespectacled man was fumbling with a number of small different colored notepads.  Although Patton wanted to rush out in search of the younger man, he watched Logan as he muttered to himself. He was always amazed at how many notepads his friend carried around with him. Logan was currently quickly scanning through an olive one muttering along as he read.

Patton took the few seconds to try to calm his rapidly beating heart. He hadn’t realized how much panic and adrenaline was running through him right now. He took a deep breath and looked around at his surroundings again as though Virgil was going to suddenly appear.

In the calm silence left by his slowing heartbeat, Patton could hear someone heaving in the bathroom. Virgil. He left the deep in thought Logan and knocked gently on the bathroom door.

“Hey kiddo, you alright in there?” All of his past panic morphed into concern. He was doing all he could to not barge in there right now to help.

At a break of heaving, Patton could hear some heavy breathing and was sure Virgil mumbled something incoherently. “I’m gonna come in okay?” He waited for a reply, but didn’t get one so he slowly turned the handle.

The door was locked. Patton gently rested his head on the door. “Virgil, I know this is a lot right now. I just want to make sure you’re okay. Once I do that, I promise you can go.”  Despite his best efforts his disappointment and sadness bled through.

There was some quiet shuffling from inside the bathroom and the door unlocked. Slowly Patton opened the door once he was sure that Virgil had moved away. Light from the hallway poured into the dark small bathroom. A quiet pained hiss came from Virgil’s curled form. Patton quickly stepped onto the tile and carefully shut the door.

The older man blinked his eyes, attempting to speed up their adjustment to the room. Virgil was curled with his back against the tub wall, his knees drawn up to his chest. The young sick boy’s head rested sideways on his knees staring down the toilet he had recently been puking into. Patton could faintly see that Virgil was shaking slightly beneath the heavy sweatshirt he had put back on. The pair of glasses Patton had loaned him were thrown onto the floor, one lens now had a large crack in it.

Patton dropped into a cross-legged position on the floor giving enough space in case Virgil had to puke again. He wanted to wrap the boy in his arms and gently rub his back but he couldn’t. Sure he didn’t exactly know what went on when people touched Virgil, but he knew it wasn’t good for the kiddo.

Because of him, the poor boy had no less than two panic attacks, two fainting spells, and was now vomiting up whatever bit of food he had. Patton just wanted to help. He felt his eyes warm as tears threatened to fall. He shook his head trying to stop the tears. This was about Virgil, a scared kid with an uncontrollable power.

“Are you sick because of your… because I…?” Patton hesitantly asked trying to think of the exact words he wanted. It was obvious Virgil didn’t have a good relationship with the power and Patton certainly wasn’t making it better.

Virgil blinked slowly, trying to focus on the toilet beside him. “It’s not your fault.” Virgil whispered. It had been a while since his power that been used. It had never been great, but it was something he had started to grow a small tolerance to. Plus on top of that, he was barely getting any food outside of that left by Patton. He supposed something like this would have happened eventually and against most of his instincts Virgil was slowly starting to trust the older man.

Three quick sharp knocks hit the bathroom door.

“Logan’s back, you had met him for a little bit back in town.” Patton explained standing and wiped off his khaki pants. “I thought, if you’re up to it, it might be good for you too to talk. He’s a bit rough of people but I think he’d better at helping you out with all of this…”

Patton waved his and absently. He wanted to help so much more than he could. It wasn’t that he wanted powers. No he didn’t mind the life he had, but he wanted to help. Virgil right now needed it and it was better from him to get the assistance from someone with them.

Logan knocked another triplet waiting for a response. Patton sighed and opened the door once again illuminating the bathroom. “We should sit in the living room. It is more comfortable and calming.” Logan stated looking past Patton and into the poorly lit room.

“Well he’s sick, I don’t-“ Patton began only to be cut off by a grunt from Virgil.

The teen had shakily risen to his feet and slid the cracked glasses onto his face. “It’s fine.”

The trio slowly moved into the living room where Virgil resumed his curled up position on the corner of the couch. The muffins sat untouched in front of him. Patton gently moved the glass of water closer to Virgil.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Virgil curled holding the cool glass of water between his hands with his eyes closed and Patton and Logan exchanging glances.

“I can move through different parallel worlds.” Logan finally broke the silence, adjusting his tie. “It gets confusing sometimes, with the different realities I have to keep track of.” Unconsciously he patted his breast pocket which currently housed a dark blue notepad.

“It is partially controlled.” Logan added but by the long silence after he was done explaining his power.

“That why you were weird before?” Virgil mumbled, his head resting slightly on the rim of the cup.

“Yes. Sometimes my body does not handle not traveling for extended periods of time well. Other times there is a pull within my being to go to one of these other universes. Resisting can lead to episodes similar to the one you had witnessed.”

“The mind travels quicker than the body…” Logan added more as an afterthought to himself than for the others.

Patton shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He felt that he was intruding. Sure Logan had told him things but there was an understanding atmosphere in the room that was emanating from Virgil. Patton couldn’t ever fully express that to his friends.

“Your power is based around touch.” Logan stated finally and stared into Virgil’s half hidden face as though trying to read the other’s mind.

Virgil shrugged. His mind raced telling him to leave. He had just met these guys who also may have kidnapped him. Maybe Logan was lying and it was all a ploy to get Virgil to admit to his powers so they could take him away and dissect him like a frog in science class. His leg had started to bounce, sending vibrations up the rest of his body causing the water to slosh around in the cup.

“I… uh.. I don’t need glasses...” That was good, vague and random.

Patton started to open his mouth confused but Virgil quietly continued. “But…uh… Patton does.”

Virgil gently adjusted the frames on his face, staring down at the rippling water. That was good right? It wasn’t a direct confession but gave a gist of what was going on?

“You absorb characteristics through touch?” Logan had moved resting his head on his hand, elbow on his knee. It was all very intriguing. “How long do they stay?”

Virgil shrugged again. “Depends on time and stuff…”

Virgil tensed. His shoulders rising higher to meet his ears. “It’s more to….memories…or…future stuff...”

Logan straightened slightly at that. He wasn’t one for seers and prophesies. “A set future?”

Virgil shook his head feeling the glass on his jaw. “Just little things that could happen. More information would come from more touch which is more bleeding into me…”

And I don’t want more voices in my head, Virgil added in his own mind.


End file.
